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Monday, August 16, 2010

Peach Clafoutis - Julia Child

***Now, you didn't really think that I would let Julia's birthday go by without sharing a new recipe by Julia with you, right? I've been curious about what a classic French clafoutis (pronounced Kla-foo-TEE) tasted like for a while now. They always looked beautiful in the photos that I saw, and I wondered if they tasted as good as they looked. This dessert has a luxurious custardy filling and tastes perfectly french!

I knew that if I was going to make a clafoutis, it would be a crime not to begin with Julia's recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I. The recipe sounded incredibly simple, which it ultimately was.

Traditionally, a clafoutis is made with cherries, so that is how Julia presents this recipe in her cookbook. Being the southern girl that I am, I decided to substitute the cherries with the freshest, most gorgeous Clanton peaches. They were superb! Feel free to subsitute about 3 cups of any fruit that you like. The only other addition that I made was the cardamom. There's just something about cardamom in fruity, pastry-like desserts that I adore. I've included my changes in purple, below.

I did make one big mistake, though...I was in such a hurry that I forgot to sprinkle the second 1/3 cup sugar over the fruit, before pouring the rest of the batter into the pan. As a result, the finished dessert wasn't quite as sweet as it should be, however, I'm sure my hips will thank me for that mistake later!

In a blender blend the milk, 1/3 cup sugar, eggs, vanilla, cardamom, salt and flour. Pour a 1/4 inch layer of the batter in a buttered 7 or 8 cup lightly buttered fireproof baking dish. Place in the oven until a film of batter sets in the pan (about 2-3 minutes).

Remove from the heat and spread the peaches over the batter. Sprinkle on the remaining 1/3 cup of granulated sugar. Pour on the rest of the batter.

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 45 minutes to an hour. The clafouti is done when puffed and brown and and a knife plunged in the center comes out clean. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, serve warm.

Hi, your recipe instructs to blend sugar, but later it says to sprinkle sugar over peaches....I am almost to point of adding peaches to pan....guess I will sprinkle a little sugar over the peaches. Looking forward to this dessert.

I made this last night and it was divine. I still am a bit confused about the sugar. One cup total? or 2/3 cup total? The recipe has 2/3 cup divided and then another 1/3 cup later on. I used 1/3 cup on the fruit, 1/3 cup in the batter and then the remaining 1/3 cup to dust the buttered dish before putting the batter in and the remainder sprinkled on top for browning. SO GOOD!!